Shopping for Pearls in Manacor Central Mallorca

Several Mallorcan workshops and companies still produce manmade pearls today and have developed the process to the level that their best imitation pearls can only be told apart from natural ones by specialists. A trip to the central Mallorcan town of Manacor will give you an opportunity to visit not one but two pearl factories and showrooms.

For many centuries pearls were a mark of wealth and power, a natural pearl of average size could take 10-15 years to be made and was difficult to find, ensuring that pearls came at a cost affordable only to the upper classes. In the 19th century the Japanese began to make cultured pearls, growing their own pearls in a controlled environment, cutting down the time and labour involved and making pearls much more accessible, but it wasn’t until mass production began on manmade pearls such as the ones made in Mallorca today, that beautiful and well crafted items were truly available to the masses.

For over 100 years now Mallorcans have been producing these imitation pearls through the delicate process of repeatedly dipping and coating small beads with an iridescent mother-of-pearl liquid, which is then fired and hardened on to the bead, producing a beautiful lasting pearl. Through manipulation of the processes and chemicals involved these pearls can be made any colour, size or shape required including perfectly round, a quality that is rare in natural and cultured ones.

These days Majorica, a world-renowned company based in Manacor, tops the Mallorcan pearl industry. They make a range of jewellry for both men and women in a range of traditional and contemporary styles. There is the added benefit of being able to order online with free shipping in Europe.

Of course, they are not the only ones worth looking into. If you’re heading to Mallorca with a view to making a pearl purchase or just wishing to browse through the options then you’d be wise to check out lesser known but equally high quality pearl manufacturers Orquidea.

Orquidea is also located in the town of Manacor and has two separate locations; a large factory and shop situated outside of town and a shop with museum and show room the town itself. If you are interested in the whole creation process then head to the factory and take a guided tour around the exhibition area where you can see each stage of the process before browsing in the large showroom. If you head to the town centre shop you can still get a taste of the processes involved as the shop floor has a small production area on display where one or two people engage in different aspects of pearl production. In the town shop you can also browse the small ‘museum’ display where you’ll see photos and portraits of famous pearl lovers throughout the years such as the iconic image of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, and the large pear shaped pearl pendant worn by Queen Mary I and later owned by Elizabeth Taylor.

Wandering around the shop or factory or their shops elsewhere in Palma and Valldemossa you will see every variety of pearl size, colour and setting, there are more than twenty different colours of pearl available including shades of white, pink, grey, copper, blue and aubergine and the pearls can come strung on silk thread, knotted onto leather or set with gold, silver or platinum. How much you spend depends entirely on you, there are pieces to suit all budgets and tastes and there are other stones available as well, precious and semi precious stones set with the pearls or as statement jewellery in their own right and if you don’t fancy jewellery at all then look out for the sizable tiger statue made entirely out of small elongated pearls.

Orquidea have been in business since 1950 and pride themselves on their excellence and quality control, they have displayed their work in a number of distinguished fashion magazines and have over 1000 distributors. Each piece of their jewellery comes displayed in a red velvet clamshell gift box with care instructions and their pearls all have a 10-year guarantee.

If you’re looking for a really special memento of Mallorca or a statement piece of jewellery, head to Manacor and visit either of these two high quality pearl manufacturers, watch the professionals at work, see how it’s done and then shop till you drop in the large gem filled showroom shops.

Both locations of Orquidea are easy to find and well signposted off the main Palma to Manacor Ma15 and ample parking is provided at both locations. Marjorica is closer to Manacor, just on the western outskirts of the city.